Questions Answered Part 2

I have a couple more questions to answer and then I'll probably blog again soon.  There is a lot of stuff running through my head.  On top of that I have a parent teacher conference for Anya tonight, and I'm considering calling the psychiatrist for Oksana because she has had a rough week.  She sees her therapist this afternoon so I'm going to get her thoughts on it.

Thanks for ansawering my question. I find it really interesting how Oksana (and other children like her) can have some skills so much higher than other. How are the girls self help skills? Do they need special equipment (different cups etc) to help at mealtimes?

I feel overall pretty good about their self help skills.  Both girls are independent in the bathroom except for wiping after a bowel movement.  Both girls independently undress themselves.  Anya, who loves to be undressed is especially proficient and can have everything off in about 2 seconds flat!  Oksana struggles and takes a long time but she does it completely independently.  Both girls need some minor assistance getting dressed.  90% of the time the assistance involves having the clothing on correctly and not backwards.  Both girls eat independently but we do use some special equipment.  Anya has minimal trouble eating.  Her biggest problem is that she won't sit still and focus on eating.  Oksana has a lot of trouble.  It literally looks like her food exploded all over her and our table when she eats.  Sometimes it is hard to even eat next to her because you can lose your appetite just watching her.  We have done everything possible to help her.  She has a special chair, special plates and bowls, special silverware, etc.  She has had feeding therapy in OT, we have used oral sensory items before she eats, we have used mirrors to help her see what she is doing.  The results have been minimal.  Her OT finally told us that she has everything she needs to eat without food being literally everywhere.  There is no physical barrier to her ability to eat, and it really boils down to the fact that when she cares she will do better.  That's rather frustrating, but for now we are just doing our best to continue to remind her of her skills and encourage her in them.

I had a question last time about the girls' verbal skills so I took a couple of videos to give some examples.  I couldn't get them imbedded in this post so you have links.  The videos are not cooperating with me today!

Anya Video

Oksana Video

 

Finally I just want to say thank you to "impatient patient" for your comment.  I truly appreciate the encouragement :).